Sunday, January 18, 2009

1991 Alishan Aged Oolong

There's no story behind this one. An aged Taiwanese oolong that has a hard roast, so has likely been reroasted frequently, and not forgotten.

Little black balls of oolong. Like most aged oolong, they can really pack a punch. They open up after a rinse with an aroma that's thick with cookie-dough sweetness. The liquor starts with some charcoal in the mouth, but is all sweetness after that. Full flavor, high sweetness, rich, and thickly sweet.

For most, I imagine this will be too sweet and not have enough else going on. I love it, but as it's turning out, I can only drink it as frequent as once a week. Otherwise it can be too sweet to the point of disgust. Luckily, later in the session, the sweetness dulls down, or the taste buds adjust, and the tea becomes a nice charcoally sweet blend, still with the flavors of raw cookie dough (or you can think of it as caramel and coffee).